Unmarked but Not Forgotten - A Matt Houston Story
by boswifedeb
Summary: How do you solve a 25 year old crime? That's the dilemma facing Matt when he agrees to help Hoyt with a cold case involving a missing 7 year old girl from 1988. Sometimes the answers aren't any easier to take than the questions as the two detectives learn. **This story immediately follows "El Toro Bravo".** Not my characters, but I sure wish they were. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

"**Unmarked but Not Forgotten"**

****This story immediately follows "El Toro Bravo"****

"**A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with an upturned face  
A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot"  
― Martina McBride "Concrete Angel"**

**CHAPTER 1**

As he made his final approach at the Los Angeles International Airport, private investigator Matt Houston heaved a sigh of relief. He had been away in Texas helping the Coast Guard end a hostage situation aboard an offshore oil platform and attending the funeral of Griffin McAdoo, a long-time former employee of his dad's. The man had been killed a couple of days previously during the attack on the platform where he worked.

When the plane rolled to a stop in front of the hangar, Matt could see his wife CJ and daughter Catey Rose waiting for him. After shutting down everything on the plane, he picked up his bag and headed out onto the tarmac, giving his two ladies a big hug. "I sure did miss you two." He tickled Catey on the chin and was rewarded with a big smile from her. "You don't look any worse for wear after your shots, little lady." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. After stashing his bag in the back of CJ's Navigator, he slid into the passenger seat.

"So have you heard anything from Michael about the cold cases?" Matt glanced over at his wife. When he had received the call asking for his help in Texas the private investigator had been going over some cold case files with his friend, LAPD Lt. Michael Hoyt.

"No, I haven't."

Matt pulled out his phone and called his friend. "Hey Bud, how's it going?"

"It's not. I swear I don't know how they expect us to get anything done with all the paperwork that we're required to fill out." The harried lieutenant heaved a sigh. "Are you back in town?"

"Yep, just landed and CJ and I are headed toward the office. Do you still want some help with the cold cases?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind; I can always use some help."

"Alright, I'll get my truck at the office and come on by there. See you in a few." He hung up. "You know, it's a good thing he finally took my advice on the yogurt – I can only imagine how bad his ulcers would be by now if he hadn't."

After seeing his wife and daughter to the elevator of the Houston Industries Building, Matt headed for the police station. Jogging up the stairs, he hit the door to the fourth floor and stopped by the coffee pot on his way into his friend's office.

"Howdy." He walked over to the desk and Hoyt handed him a stack of folders to go through.

"Guess you know this makes you a glutton for punishment." The veteran cop gave Matt a lopsided grin.

"Obviously – look at who I run around with." He plopped down on the couch, propped his feet on the coffee table and took a sip of coffee as he opened the first folder.

"Sorry to hear about your friend."

"Thanks. He was one tough old guy – and a hell of a good man." Matt got quiet and started reading through the file. "I didn't see this one the other day. Good Lord! This thing is from 1988." He chuckled. "That was a good year."

"I remember '88 – I had two jobs: running a paper route and cutting grass. Made quite a bit of money that summer – and the next. I was saving up for a car." The cop grinned.

"Mine was better than that – I met my future wife." Matt smiled.

"Okay, you win." They both went back to work.

Matt reached back into his back pocket and pulled out a notebook and began jotting down information about the case that involved the kidnapping of a seven year old girl named Alyssa Renee Coltrane. Her parents were going through a nasty divorce at the time and the father was first suspected of taking the girl but was proven innocent. The mother's boyfriend had also been a suspect but no proof was found linking him to it. After a couple of months, the case had fallen between the cracks and been shifted to inactive status.

Reading further, Matt saw that several phone calls had been received both by Alyssa's mother and the police, with the person calling disguising their voice. The caller, who could not be identified as either male or female, had insisted that Alyssa was alive and well. Other than finding her bicycle and sweater on the school playground, no other trace of her was ever found.

"Not much to work with on this one." He flipped through it again. "I'm gonna go run a check on these folks and see if they still live in the area." Standing up and stretching, he grabbed the cup of coffee and downed about half of it before going to the outer office and hijacking Luis Sanchez's computer to do his research.

The first name he entered into the database was Michael Dean Coltrane, Alyssa's father. Other than an arrest for pot possession when he was eighteen, Coltrane hadn't been in any other trouble. Next he tried the mother, Margaret Renee Dennison-Coltrane. She had absolutely no criminal records other than a few parking tickets. "Okay, let's look at the boyfriend. Roger Allen Carpenter…" He waited and then gave a surprised whistle. "Oh boy, this should be interesting." Roger Carpenter had been picked up twice for DUI, once for possession with intent to sell, and twice for indecent exposure before he and Margaret Carpenter had started dating. "Wonder if she knew about that?" The private eye jotted down the information in his notebook.

Hoyt came out to get a cup of coffee and noticed that Matt's nose was almost glued to the monitor. "Did you find something interesting or do you need glasses, PI?"

"Something interesting. Look here." He leaned back in the chair and tapped on the screen.

"Humph. That is interesting. That's usually a stepping stone on the way to becoming a rapist."

"I've got the current addresses for all three of them…looks like Margaret and Roger got married about a year after Alyssa disappeared." Matt stood up.

"Let me get my jacket – I want to go, too."

On the ride over to Roger and Margaret Carpenter's house, Hoyt asked Matt how it had been working with the Coast Guard's Direct Action Section. "They're good at their jobs." He didn't seem to want to say a lot about it so Michael let it go.

They arrived at the Carpenter's house – an older home in a not-so-nice section of the city. The yard was overgrown with weeds and beer cans were scattered all over. In the back portion of the driveway a rusted out car was up on blocks, the hood raised and what appeared to be a bird's nest was resting on the engine block. Matt and Michael looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they made their way up the front walk. The front door of the house was open and a TV could be heard blaring; Michael knocked on the nearly-rotted screen door frame. "Hope it doesn't fall apart," he whispered to the PI, who snickered.

After Hoyt had knocked three times, a male voice could be heard from inside. "MAGGIE! ANSWER THE FREAKIN' DOOR!"

A woman who appeared to be about sixty finally shuffled up to the door. "Yeah, what?" A cigarette dangled from the corner of her mouth; a dingy yellow halter top and a pair of extremely short denim shorts didn't do anything to improve her appearance.

Flashing his badge, Michael introduced himself and Matt. "Mrs. Carpenter? We'd like to talk to you about Alyssa's disappearance."

Margaret Carpenter took a drag off of the cigarette sending a plume of smoke upward. "You're about twenty five years too late."

"Ma'am, we've been asked to take another look at the case and we could sure use your help." Houston could smell beer on her breath – a lot of it – and it wasn't much past 11:00am.

"Oh, okay – I don't know what you two can find that the rest of the cops back then didn't find." She stepped out the door and plopped down on a decrepit-looking porch swing. In the harsh glare of the sun she looked more like seventy than the fifty years old that she really was.

"Mrs. Carpenter, we were wondering – did you ever receive any more phone calls telling you that Alyssa was alive and well after you reported the last one –" Matt looked at his notebook, "…fifteen days after her disappearance?"

"No, I didn't. Wouldn't have mattered if I had – the cops had already quit looking for her by then." She gave Hoyt a dirty look. "But I guess you two were still wet behind the ears then, huh?"

Skipping right over her remark, Matt kept to the subject. "Do you remember the names of any of her friends?"

"That was twenty five years ago. Do you really think I would remember that?" She gave Matt an incredulous look.

The same booming male voice could be heard again from inside the house. "Whoever the hell it is tell 'em we ain't buyin' and get your butt back in here and get me a beer!"

Margaret stood up and headed for the door. "Might as well, this is a waste of time."

Hoyt stopped the woman and handed her one of his cards. "Please call me at that number if you think of anything else." She took the card, stuffed it down into the front of the halter and headed back into the house, the screen door screeching closed behind her. The cop turned to Matt. "I think we should avoid Roger at the moment, how about you?"

"Yep." Matt turned and headed down the steps and the crumbly walkway back to Michael's car. They left headed to Michael Coltrane's house, which was several miles away from his ex-wife's home, although for the amount of difference between the two, it could have been in an entirely different universe. When they pulled up in front of the house they saw a man in his early fifties out trimming the boxwood hedges along the property line. He turned and walked toward the two detectives.

"Can I help you fellas with something?" He took off his gloves, wiping his brow with a bandana, and leaned the hedge trimmers against a birdbath that was surrounded with ivy.

"Are you Michael Coltrane?" Hoyt pulled out his badge.

"I sure am – is there something wrong?" The man wiped his brow once again.

Hoyt repeated the introductions. "We'd like to ask you some questions regarding your daughter's disappearance."

"Okay. Listen would you like a glass of tea? I'm about to melt out here and could sure use one." He turned and headed for a picnic table in the shade of a large oak tree. "My wife should be out in just a minute with it. Have a seat why don't you."

Matt and Michael sat down across from the man who was eyeing the PI with curiosity. "He said your name is Matt Houston? Are you the private eye that was on TV the other day? On an oil rig in Texas?"

"Yes sir, I was." The PI looked slightly embarrassed.

"Boy – that was sure some kind of mess. And all those folks who got killed…terrible. Makes you wonder what the world is coming to. But you wanted to talk to me about Alyssa? Hang on a second. Lizzie – can you bring out a couple of extra glasses? We've got company." The woman nodded and waved before heading back in for the glasses.

"We were wondering if you ever received any more phone calls telling you that your daughter was okay." Hoyt loosened his tie a little bit.

"No, the last one we got was about two weeks after she disappeared. We reported it to the police."

"Would you happen to remember the names of any of her friends?" Matt as well as Hoyt stood as Mrs. Coltrane reached the table.

"You boys have a seat." She poured the tea and handed the glasses around.

"These men are with the police department – they're looking back into Alyssa's case."

"Well that's good. What can we do to help?" Lizzie Coltrane spoke with a very distinctive accent.

"Yes ma'am. We were just asking if your husband could remember the names of any of Lizzie's friends." Matt took a sip of the tea.

"Mike, we've got a gentleman from the state of Texas here with us." She gave Matt a big smile. "If I'm not mistaken, you're from the Houston area, aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am. I was born in Lubbock and raised from the age of five in Houston."

"I'm from Dallas. You know, you look familiar. I could swear I've seen you somewhere…" Scrunching up her eyes, Lizzie looked at their guest again.

"He's the private investigator that was in on that raid on the oil rig the other day." Mr. Coltrane filled her in on it.

"You sure are! I knew I'd seen you somewhere before." She smiled. "Bless your heart; you're a bashful one aren't you?"

Matt, whose face had turned beet red, quickly took another sip of tea while Hoyt chuckled at his friend's obvious discomfort. The PI quickly changed the subject. "We were just asking Mr. Coltrane if he remembered any of Alyssa's friends."

"Oh, I can help you with that…be right back." She headed back into the house leaving Michael and Matt to look questioningly at each other.

"Lizzie was Alyssa's teacher when she disappeared." Coltrane took a long sip of tea. "Those were some dark days. My wife and I were already going through a rough divorce and Alyssa's disappearance just drove even more of a wedge between us."

"Sir, could I ask you why you two got divorced?" Matt wondered just when the two couples had gotten together.

"I found out Margaret was cheating on me with a guy named Roger Carpenter. As a matter of fact, they got married about a year later."

"Yes sir, we just came from there." The private eye took another swallow. "Do you have any idea what Alyssa thought about Roger Carpenter? Did she like him or complain about him at all?"

"She couldn't stand him. That's why I fought so hard to get custody. Back then it was rare for a man to get custody of the children…but I fought tooth and nail. She went missing two days before we were scheduled to have a court hearing about it."

"That's a pretty big coincidence, don't you think?" Michael chimed in.

"And that's exactly what the police thought. The detective in charge of the case at the time was trying to pin it on me, but I had been out of town on an installation job at a Navy base. They had me on video to prove that I was where I was supposed to be."

"What about Carpenter? I understand they looked at him, but nothing much was really said about him." Houston took another swallow of the tea.

Coltrane nodded. "See, I always wondered about him. He would get in foul moods and it didn't take much to set him off – like a keg of dynamite waiting for a spark. And he drank a lot – I didn't want Alyssa around that. It's a bad combination."

Lizzie Coltrane walked back out and joined them holding a laptop. "Here are pictures of my class that year…such great students! Three of them are doctors now and several others are in computer technology jobs. Here's a list of their names." She pointed to the screen and Matt and Michael both jotted down the names.

"Mr. Coltrane," Matt put his notebook away, "Can you think of anyone who might have taken your daughter?"

"No." The man looked at the two detectives. "Alyssa was a sweet little girl. Never any trouble, always happy and smiling. That's how I try to remember her." His wife took him by the hand.

"We appreciate your help…"Michael pulled out one of his cards as did Matt and they asked the couple to call them if they happened to think of anything else. After saying their goodbyes, the two walked back to Hoyt's car. "So I guess we try to track these folks down and see if Alyssa mentioned anything to them."

"What about the evidence? The report said that they found her sweater and bicycle at the school playground…I know they had DNA evidence back then, but what if we could run it again? It might pick up something that the technology in '88 couldn't."

"Sounds like a good case for Cheryl. You want to do the honors while I drive?" Michael started the car and Matt called his favorite CSI tech to ask for her help.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Houston, I'm really glad you're here to help – there's no way I could ever hope to reach that stuff." Cheryl was looking up at the private investigator who had joined her in the warehouse where evidence from old cases was kept. "You have to wonder what they did before we had climate-controlled storage."

"Yep, but I bet most of this stuff will never see the light of day again." Matt had reached the box that contained what little evidence there was from Alyssa's disappearance. They had already found the bicycle. He carefully climbed back down the ladder and stepped back onto the floor. The pair walked back up to the evidence storage office and signed back out.

Matt picked up the shrink-wrapped bicycle and carried it out to his truck, carefully laying it in the bed, before opening the back door so that Cheryl could put the small box on the backseat. He then opened her door for her before walking around and sliding behind the wheel.

Once back at the police station, Matt carried the bike in and up to the lab. He watched as she carefully removed the plastic and began work on it. "So Michael had to go talk to the chief, huh?" The lab tech looked over at Matt.

"Yep. He wasn't too thrilled about it either." He got quiet for a minute as he watched. "I guess there have been a lot of advances in DNA testing since '88."

"Oh yeah, we can do a lot of things now that we couldn't back then. It really is amazing. You know that's how I got interested in this line of work. We were studying DNA in Biology class and that was it – I was hooked." She continued with swabbing different areas of the bicycle. "So what about you? How did a millionaire's son who owned oil companies and everything else under the sun become a private eye?"

"It's a long story." Matt changed the subject quickly. "How about some coffee?"

"No, I can't while I'm working like this. But thanks anyway."

"Be back in a few minutes." Matt took off. Only a handful of people knew about the kidnapping that had triggered his decision to become a private investigator and he rarely spoke of it. As he found the coffee pot in the outer office of the lab and poured a cup, his phone began ringing. "Hey, Michael."

"I just got back. Have you got anything new?"

"Cheryl just got started. We had to go to the warehouse to get the evidence." He took a sip of coffee. "I think I'm going to go back to the office and see what BABY can tell me about Alyssa's classmates. Maybe we can talk to some of 'em and see if she might have said anything to them that would help."

"Alright. Talk to you later." Hoyt hung up and leaned back in his chair, thinking about what he and the chief had discussed – which centered around Houston.

Popping his head back in the door, Matt waved at Cheryl. "Hey, I'm gonna go back to the office now and start digging through some names – do you need any more help?"

"No, I'm good. But thanks again." She gave him a smile as he closed the door and walked down the hallway. He had changed the subject quickly when she had asked about his reasons for becoming a PI, and it made her curious.

Back at the penthouse offices of Houston Investigations, Matt stepped off of the elevator and smiled as his secretary Chris and her husband-to-be Murray Chase were in the midst of a passionate kiss. As he walked past the two who hadn't even heard the chime of the elevator, Matt clapped the CEO of Houston Industries on the back. "How's it goin', Murray?"

Jumping like he'd been shot, Murray looked over at his friend. "Uh good, great, no problem, Big Guy, how about you?"

Matt just winked and gave him a thumbs up as he headed into CJ's office snickering. His wife looked at him and sighed. "What did you do to the poor man this time?"

"Nothing, just asked how he was doing." The PI sat down on the love seat. "I was thinking about taking my two beautiful ladies out to lunch before I get started on some work."

"Alright with me. Catey, is it okay with you?" She stood up and walked over to pick up the baby out of the playpen. Cooing, Catey smiled. "Yep, she's all for it."

While enjoying a lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and black bottom pie the couple talked about the ranch in Texas and how well the herd was doing. Back at the office, they settled down in front of BABY to begin checking on Alyssa Coltrane's classmates. "Hmm, looks like four of them are dead: one died in Iraq, two in a car crash their senior year, and…well this is interesting: one of them was abducted and found dead two months before Alyssa." He and CJ looked at each other.

"That seems like too much of a coincidence." The lawyer-turned-private investigator looked back up at the screen. "Grace Lee Anderson, age 7…do we have a picture of her?" The description of the child was eerily similar to that of Alyssa Coltrane.

Matt brought the picture of Alyssa from the LA Times up on the screen. "They could pass for sisters, if not twins." He picked up the phone and called Hoyt and told him what they had found and asked if he would send any files that he had on it.

"That does sound like too much of a coincidence. I'll send them to you as soon as I pull them." He hung up and began gathering the information.

"CJ, let's see what else we can gather from the newspapers on this one." They spent the next thirty minutes poring through articles about Grace's abduction, then did the same for Alyssa's abduction. "Now see, this reporter thought it might be related as well." He jotted down the name in the byline: Chester MacNeil. After a little more research the PI found MacNeil's address: the Stoughton Place Assisted Living Facility. Matt left to go talk to the retired reporter as CJ began going through the file that Michael had sent to them. Before he left, Matt leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Love you."

"Love you, too – stay out of trouble." She grinned at him.

"It's a nursing home – how much trouble could I possibly get into?"

Matt found the nursing home in a middle class neighborhood, surrounded by palm trees, and located across the street from an elementary school. After checking at the reception desk, he was taken by one of the nurses to Mr. MacNeil, a stoop shouldered man of about eighty, with a halo of white hair encircling his head.

"Mr. MacNeil? You have a visitor." She smiled at the surprised expression on the man's face.

"Hi." Matt sat down across from him. "Sir, my name's Matt Houston. I'm a private…"

"Investigator. Yeah, I know who you are. Saw you on the news the other day." MacNeil smiled. "So what's a hot-shot PI like yourself doing visiting an old curmudgeon like myself?"

Matt chuckled. "Well sir, I was hoping you might be able to help me out." He opened up the folder that he had brought with him containing all of the stories that the reporter had written about Grace Anderson and Alyssa Coltrane. "I'm a consultant to the…"

"LAPD. Yep, I know about you."

"Yes sir. Well, I've been ask by the department to look into the disappearance of Alyssa Coltrane, but while I was researching the case I ran across your articles about the disappearance of another girl…"

"Grace Anderson. It's about time somebody over there figured out there was a connection there. I kept trying to tell 'em that, but nobody would listen to me."

"I'd like to listen. What do you know about the two cases?" Matt leaned back in the chair as he pulled out his notebook and pen.

"Well, the Anderson case happened first. Cute little girl. She disappeared in September of '88. After two weeks, her body was found near the Griffith Park Observatory, on one of the hiking trails. The ME said that she had been strangled but there were no other signs of abuse and she had been well-taken care of – up until she was strangled. The case went cold. Then in November Alyssa Coltrane up and disappeared. They found her bike and sweater on the playground of the school she attended – and that was all they ever found of her."

"How was Grace found? Did a hiker stumble across her?"

"Nope. There was an anonymous phone call made to the cops telling them where she was. Sad thing was the caller didn't bother to tell 'em she was dead. Her parents went tearing down there with the police and found her like that." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then began polishing the lenses on the tail of his shirt. "Her mother committed suicide a few weeks after that and her dad died in a car accident shortly thereafter. Terrible, what happened to that family."

"Yes sir." Matt was still taking notes. "Did you have any theories as to who might have done it?"

"No, I didn't. Some folks thought it was the parents, but I don't think so. I interviewed both of them…you can't fake grief like that. They were completely torn up."

"And then when Alyssa disappeared you noticed the similarities in the two girls, is that right?"

"Yep. Matter of fact, when I first saw a picture of Alyssa I thought someone had made a mistake and shown a picture of Grace. They looked that much alike."

"Yes sir, that's what my wife and I thought, too." The private eye pondered the information for a minute. "Did you know that the two girls were in the same second grade class?"

MacNeil nodded. "I found that out when the second girl went missing. It always seemed to me that maybe it was somebody who was connected to the school…maybe not an employee, but maybe someone who was around there a good bit: another parent, an older sibling, you get my drift."

"Yes sir." He sat and thought for a bit. "Mr. MacNeil, I sure do appreciate your help." He pulled out one of his cards and handed it over to the man. "If you think of anything else I sure would be glad to hear from you."

The two shook hands and Matt headed back out to the parking lot to his truck. As he slid behind the wheel he punched CJ's number on speed dial and hit the speaker button. "Hey Babe, did you find anything else?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but there are a lot of similarities between the two cases. I really can't believe that no one put the two of them together; especially the FBI, since both were basically kidnapping cases – although there were no ransom demands."

"Did they get involved in the case at all?" Matt dropped the truck into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yes, they did. SSA Geoffrey Patterson was in charge of the case." CJ punched more keys on the computer. "He's still there. Looks like he's now the second in charge at the LA office."

"I believe I'm gonna make a trip down there." He looked at the clock on the dashboard. "I guess you and Catey will be heading home pretty soon."

"Uh huh. What do you want for supper tonight?"

"Oh, I don't know…can I have dessert first?"

CJ knew that tone and exactly what he had in mind. "We'll have to see. It depends on what your daughter has to say about it."

"Hmm, well see if you can convince her for me, would ya?" He chuckled. "I'll see you girls in a little while. Love you, Babe."

"Love you, too. 'Bye!" She hung up, smiling.

Matt made his way to the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard and after a brief delay, was escorted up to the office of the Assistant Director of the Los Angeles office. "And to what do I owe the honor of this visit, Mr. Houston? Please – have a seat."

"Thank you. Mr. Patterson, I've been asked to look into some cold cases for the LAPD. Specifically the Alyssa Coltrane case and now the Grace Anderson case. There appear to be several similarities between the two and I understand that you were in charge of them back in 1988." Matt crossed his left leg over his right knee.

"I was. Those two did have quite a few similarities, I agree. We approached the Coltrane case as an extension if you will, of the Anderson case. It appeared that we had a serial child abductor, but the trail went cold quickly. I'm sure that you know that after forty eight hours, the chances of finding a missing person decrease quickly."

"Yes sir, I'm aware of that. I've been looking through the files from the department and there were no clear leads in either case. The crime lab is conducting further DNA testing on the bicycle and sweater that belonged to Alyssa and I believe that they will also run more tests on the evidence from Grace's case. I was wondering if there was anything else in the Bureau's records that might not have been in the LAPD's."

"No, I don't believe so, but we can find out." Patterson pulled up the case files on his computer and turned the monitor so that Matt could take a look for himself. Just as the Assistant Director had said, the files were almost exactly the same. After thanking him, Matt left and headed home to the ranch, continuing to think on the drive about the similarities in the two cases.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Matt woke up just before the alarm went off Saturday morning. Usually he took off on the weekends, but the Anderson-Coltrane case was bothering him. He had pretty well decided that the two were linked: there were too many similarities for them not to be related.

Easing out from under CJ's left arm which had been thrown across his midsection, and sliding a pillow under her head that had been on his chest, he headed for the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot that had been set to brew thirty minutes earlier. As he headed for the shower, the private eye stopped to check on his daughter who was still sleeping peacefully.

Before heading out the door, he left CJ a note. They had an unspoken rule: never leave without saying goodbye.

**MORNING BABE! I'VE GONE TO SEE MICHAEL ABOUT THE CASE. TALK TO YOU LATER.**

**LOVE,**

**MATT**

Thirty minutes later Matt headed out the kitchen door and drove to his favorite bakery, picking up a dozen doughnuts before heading to the police station. He knew that Michael Hoyt would more than likely be there: the man rarely took a Saturday off and as he stepped off of the elevator (minus the doughnut that Sgt. Bob Peterson had charged him for using the elevator), Matt's theory was confirmed. Michael Hoyt was standing in his office looking out the window at the city that he had sworn to protect and serve. Refilling his travel mug, Matt was grateful that the squad room was not as full as on a weekday. Otherwise he would be down a few more doughnuts. He entered Hoyt's office and set the box on the desk as the surprised cop turned to see who it was.

Chuckling, he walked over and sat down behind his desk. "I wondered if you would show up today. Curiosity got the better of you, huh?" He reached across and took a doughnut.

"I guess you could say that." The PI told the cop about his visit to the FBI the afternoon before as well as his visit to Chester MacNeil. "MacNeil thinks they were related, too. I was thinking last night that we need to check N-DEx and see if there were any other cases about that time that might be related."

"Yep." Michael stuffed the rest of the doughnut in his mouth, wiped his hands on a napkin, and pulled his keyboard closer before logging into the FBI's website to access N-DEx, a database that contains key facts about cases all over the country.

After finding the entries in the system for both the Coltrane and Anderson cases, Michael started a search. As he waited for the results, he took another doughnut. "So how is my niece doing?"

"Fat and sassy." Matt smiled proudly. "She was still asleep when I left…so was CJ. It's amazing how much she looks like her mama."

"She looks like both of you." He shook his head and smiled as he polished off his second doughnut and went back into the box for another.

"What?" Matt grabbed another doughnut and took a sip of the coffee.

"Oh, I was just wondering how many kids you two are going to end up with." He chuckled.

"We're hoping for at least four." Although the cop thought he was joking at first, he quickly realized that Matt was serious.

"Better you than me…one was bad enough." He popped the last of the pastry into his mouth and grunted, pointing at the screen. Matt got up and came around the desk, pulling the chair with him as he went.

"There were two others that were very similar: one each in March and April of the same year." Michael grabbed another pastry. The two looked at each other as they read further into the disappearance that had occurred in March.

"Sarah Michelle Phillips, age 8…disappeared on the afternoon of March 18, 1988 on her way home from school in San Francisco's Sunset District. She lived on Quintara Street. Her books and jacket were found about four blocks from her house, and about one block away from the school. She was never found." Matt read on. "Gina Maria Torelli, age 7, also from the same neighborhood, went missing on April 15, 1988…it looks like her books were found about six blocks in the opposite direction from Sarah Phillips." The private investigator leaned back in his chair. "Hoyt, all four of these cases happened close to schools."

"Well, most pedophiles tend to strike near places where kids are found; schools, playgrounds, you name it." Hoyt blew out a breath. "This hits a little too close to home." Hoyt's daughter had been kidnapped a few years earlier, but thanks to Matt and his uncle, Roy Houston, she had been found and returned to her parents.

"Tell me about it." The private investigator stood up, got another doughnut from the box, and walked toward the window while thinking. "What if we check the known sex offender list for the Sunset District in '88 and compare it to the area where Alyssa and Grace disappeared?"

"We can sure do it." Hoyt switched over to the state's database that contained the names of known sex offenders. "God, this is depressing. There were sixteen at that time in the neighborhood where Grace went missing." He switched the location to Los Angeles where Alyssa disappeared. "And…damn…twenty two here. Now let's see if any of them match up. We've got a hit!"

Matt came back behind the desk and took a look. "Gerald Osbourne Suggs, age 34 at the time… He died right around the time Alyssa was taken. Damn it!" Walking back over to the window he took a long swig of coffee and his phone rang. "Good morning, beautiful."

"And the same to you, handsome. You didn't tell me you were going in today." CJ was patting Catey's back after giving her a bottle. The baby let out with a loud burp, causing her dad to laugh.

"So Catey's in fine form today."

"She is – she was talking to her teddy bear when I went to check on her this morning."

"You gotta wonder what they talk about." Matt sat down on the couch. "Michael and I were just going through what we've got so far. There were two other cases in '88 that were similar – in San Francisco." He told her about their sex offender search.

"Matt, that's still too much of a coincidence. Was anybody living with the guy? Maybe he took the fall and the other person was doing it as well."

"That's a good idea." He punched the speaker button and told Michael CJ's idea.

"CJ, you're brilliant." Michael began pecking at the keyboard again. "He lived with his sister, Anna Suggs when he was in San Francisco and…" The cop continued his search. "Bingo. She was here as well. Now the question is, can we find her?" He continued his search. After several minutes he came up empty handed. "It's like she just vanished off the face of the earth."

Matt heard the house phone ringing in the background. "Gotta go. Let me know what happens. Love you, Cowboy. 'Bye."

"Love you, Babe." The PI hung up his phone and walked back toward the window but stopped in his tracks and turned to face his friend. "How did Suggs die?"

"Hang on." Hoyt tapped back into the department's files. "He was murdered."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

"Okay here's the ME's report on Suggs. It says he died from …well this is weird. He had been stabbed approximately three weeks before he died – that was an estimation. They didn't know for sure when it happened. When Suggs was brought into the emergency room after being found on the street a block from his apartment, he was unconscious. Never came to before he died. It says he had been stabbed in the abdomen and developed gangrene and septicemia." Hoyt leaned back in the chair and took a sip of coffee. "We need to find the sister – Anna Suggs."

"Is there any information on her at all in the department's records?" Matt walked back over and sat down in the chair again as Hoyt continued to search.

"Nope, not a thing."

"What about other family members?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "Nobody even claimed the guy's body. His ashes were buried in the County Cemetery – in December of '89. Ugh."

"Alright what was his last address?" Matt pulled out his notebook and jotted it down. "Guess I'll make a run by there and see if anybody remembers them…although it has been twenty five years."

"I'll go with you." The pair both grabbed another doughnut before walking out and catching the elevator down to the parking garage. "Let's take the truck." Matt opened the door and slid behind the wheel.

As he headed for the apartment building in the Silver Lake neighborhood, Matt's phone rang. After looking at the ID he punched the speaker button. "Hey Marty, how's it goin'?" Marty Hoffmann was Matt's foreman at the ranch in Texas where he had started running cattle again.

"Real good, Houston. Just wanted to let you know that we just got that new head chute in and the scales are about to be installed. When we're done with that we're gonna be workin' on the new loading chute. But things are moving right along. It looks like we're right on track for the fall calving."

"Good deal. I thought you might like that set up a little better than the old way it was done. Never did like it. Tell everybody hello for me."

"I will. So what are you up to? I called the house looking for you and CJ said you were working on a case. Not one of those dirty divorce cases is it?" The foreman laughed.

"Nope. I don't do those. This is a cold case I'm helping the LAPD with. It started out as the abduction of one girl, but now we believe that four of them were actually taken. Two here and two in San Francisco – twenty five years ago." He grinned over at Hoyt.

"TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO?" Marty couldn't believe his ears. "How in the hell…wow."

"As a matter of fact Lt. Michael Hoyt is with me right now."

The lieutenant spoke up. "Hi, Marty."

"Hey. How do you work a case from twenty five years ago?" The cowboy was astounded.

"Good question. We're just kind of tracking down the folks that were involved before and seeing if we can get any other information. Plus the lab is running more tests that they didn't have back in '88." Hoyt had heard Matt talking about the Hoffmann brothers and how well they took care of the ranch for him.

"Wow. Well, I believe I'll just stick to what I know here; cows, dirt, and …well, you get the idea." All three of them laughed.

"Alright then, I'll holler at ya later, Bud. See ya." Matt disconnected the call. The two detectives were quiet for a few minutes.

"Houston? I've got to ask you something. How do you manage to do everything that you do? I mean, you've got the agency, you help me, you've got the ranch here, you've got the ranch in Texas, you work with Derwin Dunlap, and you've got a family. That's a lot."

"Well, I don't know. I just do what I can when I can." He looked over at Michael. "Bo and Lamar take care of most of the work on the ranch here, and then I've got Marty, Pat, and Ollie in Texas. So that clears a lot of it."

Hoyt shook his head. "And you say you two want four kids?"

"Like I said, at least four; personally, I want a whole house full." He glanced back at the shocked look on his friend's face. "Here we are." The private eye parked on the street in front of the small apartment complex. It appeared to have about ten units. "You know, we might be luckier here than we thought: little complexes like this are usually owner-operated. A lot of times the owner lives in one of the apartments or very close by and does most of the work on the units themselves."

"It would be nice. We could sure use a break in this case." Hoyt pulled his ID from his pocket as Matt knocked on the door labeled property manager. The door was opened by a tall, thin man of about sixty.

"Can I help you?"

Michael made the introductions. "We were wondering if you might remember some people that lived here about twenty five years ago. A brother and sister named…"

The man nodded and finished Hoyt's sentence for him. "Suggs. Anna and Gerry Suggs. They were about the strangest ones that ever lived in these apartments – and believe me; we've had some weirdoes over the years. Come on in." He opened the door for the two men and invited them to have a seat in the living room. "I'm Floyd Dupree and this is my wife Alice." A lady of about the same age had come into the room and Matt and Hoyt stood as they shook hands with her. "They came to ask us about the Suggs."

Rolling her eyes, the woman nodded and sat down. "The woman – Anna – seemed okay at first. Real polite, neat and clean. But the brother was just…strange. He didn't work and was around here all day everyday almost. Gave me the creeps." She shivered.

"Do you have any idea where she worked?" Matt had pulled out his notebook and pen and began taking notes.

"Sure do. She worked as a teacher's aide – but I don't remember what school it was."

"Did she happen to leave a forwarding address when she moved?"

"No, she packed a bag and disappeared a couple of days before I found Gerry passed out in the middle of the street." Floyd shook his head. "It looked like he had been stabbed in the belly – what a God awful stench."

"Not to mention the apartment. We couldn't rent that thing out for three months it smelled so bad in there." Alice shivered again. "You would think he would have had enough sense to call for help or something."

"What else do you remember about them? Were there ever kids around the apartment?" Houston leaned back and propped his left ankle on his right knee.

"Not much. Anna would talk in passing but she was real quiet. Now Gerry wouldn't hardly speak – he would just stare at you." Mr. Dupree stood up and removed a ring of keys from his pocket. "But I tell you what; there's still some of their stuff in our storage building out back. I thought maybe she would come back for it and I might be able to use it to get the rest of the rent out of her. Just never got around to throwing it away. Maybe something in there can help you fellas."

"That's the best news we've had on this case so far." Michael and Matt got up and followed Floyd out behind the complex to a cinderblock building. The landlord opened it up and flipped on a light switch for the two detectives. "That stuff over there on the left hand side from the couch to that dresser over there was theirs. Darn near threw out my back trying to get all that mess down here." He chuckled. "Alice has been after me for the last twenty five years to get rid of the stuff. I kept putting it off because I didn't want to hurt my back again."

Matt stuck his head back out the door and looked at the apartment building. "Which one did they live in?"

"That one down there on the opposite end from ours – bottom floor."

"It would have made it easy to move somebody in and out of there, Michael." Matt nodded in the direction of the apartment.

"Yep. Mr. Dupree, I'm going to call the lab and have them send some folks out here to run a check on this stuff. We'll give you an itemized receipt for it."

"Don't bother – just do me a favor and get rid of it, would you?"

Matt and Michael waited for a lab tech to show up and were pleased when it turned out to be Charlie Mason. "Well, he sure don't look and smell as good as Cheryl but maybe he can at least get the job done." Houston grinned at the tech who pretended to be hurt.

"Keep on talking like that and I'll go on strike." Charlie was lugging his kit along with him. "What exactly am I working on?" He walked inside the building with the two detectives. When Hoyt pointed out what they were going to be looking through, Mason sighed. "We're going to need a little more help out here for this." Reaching into his pocket, the tech pulled out his phone and called the lab for more help and a truck to haul the evidence back in.

When the CSI finished his call, Matt cocked his head at him. "You know I've got a perfectly good truck parked out front, Charlie."

"Yeah well, I don't think it could handle all of this." He motioned to the collection of furniture, clothes, and other miscellaneous items that were boxed and bagged in the storage shed. "Okay, let's get to work."

After about three hours of looking through the collection, Matt hit on something. "Hey guys – look here." He waved the other two men over. "Look out for that crack there, Charlie." Lying in the bottom of one of the containers was a child's shirt: pink with purple stars and glitter. "I don't believe either one of the Suggs could wear that."

Charlie took a photo, then carefully removed the shirt from the container and placed it into an evidence bag.

"What size is it?" Matt craned his neck trying to read the tag in the collar.

"Seven: just what a seven or eight year old would wear." Charlie gave the two detectives a grim look.

A couple of hours later, Michael made another discovery: a butcher knife in some of the kitchen items that were packed in a plastic tote. It was still in the wooden block holder – and it was covered with blood.

"Bet that's your murder weapon right there." Charlie began dusting it for prints, pulled them and scanned them. "Hmm…no hits. But we'll run a DNA check and see if the blood belongs to the brother."


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Around 7:00pm, Matt pulled into the driveway at the ranch. It had been a hotter than normal day and after being in the enclosed space of the storage shed, he was tired, hot, sweaty, hungry, and disgusted. He sat in the truck for a minute before going in. Although he tried hard not to bring his work home with him and let it affect his time with CJ and Catey, sometimes the private investigator found it hard to leave the problems of the day behind. As he took a deep breath and tilted his head back on the headrest while closing his eyes, CJ stood in the kitchen looking out the window, watching him, and knew that it must have been a rough day. She hadn't heard from him since that morning. Catey was happily jabbering in her playpen in the den as her mom went to the refrigerator, pulled out two bottles of beer and popped the top on them. A minute later Matt walked through the door to be greeted by a big hug, a kiss, and an ice cold bottle of beer. "Thanks, Babe." She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was worried about the case.

"Why don't you go hit the shower and I'll get you some supper ready. Deal?" She ran her fingers through the curls on the back of his neck.

"So are you trying to tell me I stink?" He took a long swig of the beer and set the bottle down on the table before pulling her back into his arms for another kiss.

"Well, it's not so bad that I won't kiss you, but you are kinda funky." She smiled up at him.

"Guess I better hit the shower then." He picked up the beer and took another long swig of it as he walked through the den, stopping to lean over into the playpen to give Catey a kiss and a tickle before going on back to the shower.

As he walked back to the kitchen a little while later, he heard Catey starting to fuss and stopped at the playpen. "Whatcha doin', Miss Whistle Britches?" The minute he picked her up, Catey started smiling and cooing. "Lil Lady, you've got some wet drawers. Let's go see what we can do about that." He turned and headed back to the nursery with the ten week old, changed her diaper, and then headed into the kitchen, the pair jabbering back and forth the entire time. CJ had just pulled a chef's salad out of the refrigerator and put it on the table in front of him along with a glass of tea. They talked about the ranch in Texas and the plans that they had for it as Matt ate. Afterward, he headed down to the barn with the baby for their nightly ride on his favorite horse, Cricket. When they came back up to the house, CJ took the baby from Matt, handed him another beer and went to give their daughter a bath after instructing her husband to go relax. When she and Catey came out to join him by the pool a short time later he was dozing in one of the lounge chairs. The sound of his daughter's voice woke him up and he took the baby from CJ and began giving her the last bottle of the night.

"You know, Hoyt about choked today when I told him we wanted at least four kids." He looked up at CJ grinning. "I don't think he believed me at first. Said one was bad enough." They both laughed and Catey joined in, causing both of her parents to laugh even harder.

"Well, I bet if Anne had had another one he wouldn't have complained one bit. He's a good dad." She watched as Catey stared up at her dad and smiled the minute that he looked down at her.

Later on after Catey had been put down for the night, the pair snuggled up together in Matt's recliner and started watching old movies, one of their favorite past times. After sitting through a marathon of old westerns, the pair made their way back to the bedroom for the night.

Sunday morning Matt woke up about 10:00am. He rolled over on his back and was thinking about the case, but decided to take the day off. As he headed for the shower, he made up his mind to work on interviewing Grace and Alyssa's classmates the next day. After getting dressed, he made his way into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee and two cinnamon rolls from the plate on the table. He stepped out onto the patio to find CJ and Catey in the pool.

"Good mornin'." He walked over to watch as CJ played with the baby in the water. "She's not a bit scared, is she?"

"No, she isn't." She watched as the baby hit the water with her hand, making it splash, and then looked back up at Matt who, though watching Catey, was obviously lost in thought. After a few more minutes, CJ got out of the pool and took the baby in to change her. Matt got up and followed.

"What do you say we make a trip up to the lake? Miss Catey hasn't been there before." Matt helped CJ as she dried the baby off and got her dressed.

"I think it's a great idea." CJ laughed as Catey squealed. "Evidently she does, too."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Monday morning Matt headed in to the city and after making a pot of coffee, the private eye went to work looking for Alyssa and Grace's classmates. Out of the twenty four that were still alive, nineteen still lived in the Los Angeles area. Two were stationed overseas with the military, two more were in prison, and there was no information available for the last one. As CJ stepped off the elevator with Catey and Chris, Matt was going into his wife's office to retrieve the list of names and addresses that he had printed out.

"You've got really good timing this morning." He leaned over and gave his wife a peck on the cheek and his daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"Well of course I do. So what have you got there?" She put the baby in the playpen and turned to her husband.

"The names, addresses, and phone numbers of Grace and Alyssa's classmates." No sooner had he said it than his phone rang. "Hey, what've you got?" Matt sat down on the loveseat.

"Charlie just shot a report up to me on the evidence we collected Saturday. The blood on the knife was from two people: one was Gerry Suggs and the other was from a female relative – a sister. That sample was found on the handle."

"So as happens in a lot of stabbings, she cut herself as well. Okay, now we know why she packed up and did the adios routine." Matt tapped on the upper of his boot that was resting on his knee.

"So it seems. Charlie also discovered that the shirt that was retrieved had Grace's DNA on it. So it appears that she was there." He sat down behind his desk and took a sip of coffee. "That's pretty much all we've got so far, but it's a hell of a lot more than we had Saturday."

"It is." Matt looked at his phone as another call came in. "Tell you what; CJ is going to work on tracking down the classmates. I think we need to go talk to somebody at the school."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few."

Matt disconnected the call and answered the new one. "Hey Brian, how's it goin'?" Brian Landers was a boy that had turned up in Matt's barn on the ranch in Texas the year before. His mother had gone to buy drugs and then been held against her will by the dealer. Matt had helped to track her down and get the boy's mother the treatment she needed and helped them get back on their feet.

"Pretty good." Brian's voice gave away the fact that things weren't really that good.

"Are you sure about that? You don't sound like it's pretty good. How's your mom doing?" Matt was familiar enough with the problems associated with try to get someone through drug rehab. It didn't always work the first time.

"She's good. Even got a promotion at work."

"Well good. Now, what's wrong?" The cowboy knew the boy well enough to know that something was up. "Fess up, pard."

"I …well, I wanted to join the football team at school…but…" He stopped.

Matt had a feeling he knew what the problem was. "But…go ahead."

"It's…well, it costs too much. I know mom is doing pretty good right now, but I really hate to tell her how much it costs."

Many of the public schools had cut back on their athletic programs, forcing the kids who wanted to play to have to pay for uniforms and equipment. With the economy in bad shape, it was nearly impossible for some.

"So how much is it?"

"Houston, you've already helped us so much I can't…"

"If you don't tell me I'll find out anyway…you know I can." The last was said in a joking manner but both of them knew it was true.

"About $300." Brian was holding his breath.

"What about the rest of the team?" Matt stood up and walked out through the office and onto the patio overlooking the city.

"Well, I know a bunch of the guys won't be able to play…and some of them were in the big statewide game last year. It's how a lot of them are hoping to get to go to college."

"Tell you what…call the coach and find out what you guys need. Then call me back and we'll take care of it, okay?" He had seen Brian throw a football when he was trying to track down his mom: the kid had one heck of an arm and would make a great quarterback.

"Houston, I can't…that wouldn't be right."

"No, what wouldn't be right is for y'all not to get the chance to play. I mean it, Brian: I want to hear from you or the coach by 4:00 this afternoon - or do I need to come down there and put a whoopin' on ya?" Matt had played football from the time he was five until he graduated from college and knew how important it could be to folks looking for a way to pay for their education.

"Okay. Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"Know how you can show me how much you appreciate it?"

"How?"

"Try for quarterback…you've got a hell of an arm, Brian. I'm serious. You need to do it. Okay?" He waited.

"Yes sir, I will." Matt could hear the boy smiling through the phone.

"Alright that's more like it. I'll talk to you this afternoon, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Houston. 'Bye."

Matt hung up the phone and was smiling as he walked back into CJ's office where she had already started calling around trying to reach the classmates of the two girls. She hung up after finishing talking to one of them.

"He didn't remember either one. And I've got a feeling we're going to be hearing that some more." She blew out a breath. "Is Brain doing okay?"

"Yeah, he's supposed to call me back and tell me how much the football team needs to play this year – their budget got axed."

"Well aren't you the nice one. I guess you deserve a kiss for that." She stood up and leaned over the desk, giving him a kiss as she rubbed his jaw.

"Hmmm, guess I should be generous more often…" He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Guess I'm going to go talk to Hoyt and see if we can find anything else. Love you."

"Love you. Be good." The pair kissed again and Matt left to go brainstorm with Michael.

As he pulled into the parking lot, it occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea what Anna Suggs even looked like, so when the PI stepped off of the elevator and headed for Hoyt's office the first thing out of his mouth when he walked through the door was, "Do we have a picture of Anna Suggs?"

Hoyt was somewhat surprised. He put down the stack of papers that he had been working on and turned to the computer. "We don't have a record of her in the department, but maybe we can tap into…holy damn." The veteran cop sat slack-jawed. "I think that's Lizzie Coltrane!"

Matt went around the desk and looked at the monitor. "Son of a…I think it is her."

Hoyt's fingers began working the keyboard as he looked up the teacher's name. "She doesn't have a record…wait a minute. The teachers have to have a background check before they can teach in the system. And that includes fingerprints."

"Do we need a court order?"

"Well, I wouldn't think so, but let me call the DA's office." He picked up the phone and Matt stepped out to get a cup of coffee, bringing one back in for Michael as well. The lieutenant had just been connected with one of the assistant DA's and was in the process if asking his question. As he was listening to the answer, he gave Matt a thumbs up. "Okay, that would be great. I'll send the information over right now. Thanks so much." He hung up and began pounding the keyboard. After he was done, Michael looked up at the PI. "Technically we don't have to have one, but considering what's going on, he's going to have one issued."

"Now we're getting something accomplished. If we can get the prints we can find out who she really is…and hopefully find out about the girls. And you know - she would be facing a murder charge for her brother, too."

"She would indeed." He got up and checked his pistol, making sure he had a full magazine.

"Think she's gonna come out shooting?" Matt took another drink of the coffee.

"Well, she stabbed her own brother. Now she's working as a teacher, is married to a pretty successful man, has a nice home and car…if it was me, I probably would." Michael put on his suit jacket as Matt threw the styrofoam cup in the trash and they headed out to the outer office. After a twenty minute wait, the fax machine began spitting out the warrant and a couple of minutes later Matt was in the parking garage pulling out his vest and Glock, checking the magazine. He got into the passenger seat of Hoyt's car, along with his laptop. Michael had emailed the fingerprints that had been pulled off of the knife so that they could check them on the way to the Coltrane's house.

Matt waited in the car as Michael went in and got the file, and had the laptop open and ready. The pair looked at each other. "It's her. Let's go." Matt closed up the laptop and reached into the backseat for his vest. "I want to know why, Hoyt. Women in general don't tend to do this kind of thing. It's usually guys, ya know?"

"Uh huh. Very strange." The veteran cop took cases like this personally now after his daughter's kidnapping.

They pulled up to the Coltrane's house just as a patrol car pulled up. Matt and Hoyt exchanged a look. "What the hell? I didn't call for any backup."

They got out and met up with the two patrolmen. "Pat, why are y'all here?" Matt tucked his Glock into the back waistband of his jeans.

"There was a disturbance call. Why are you two here?" The longtime cop was just as puzzled as the two detectives.

"We're here to take Lizzie Coltrane in for questioning on murder charges." Hoyt had put his vest on and was adjusting the Velcro closures.

"Holy…her husband was the one that called in. Said she was threatening him with a knife and had a gun as well." Pat Spencer drew his pistol as did the other three men. "How do you want to work it, Lieutenant?"

"You guys take the back, we'll take the front." He and Matt headed quickly and quietly up the front walk. As they got near the front door they could hear Mrs. Coltrane inside yelling at her husband.

"Somebody at the Board of Education must have tipped her off." The PI took a big breath as Hoyt knocked on the front door.

"LAPD. THIS IS LT. HOYT. OPEN UP." He had the left hand side of the door and Houston was crouched down on the right hand side underneath the window that was right next to the door. There was no response from inside. Michael reached up to knock again when the pair heard a scream and two gunshots from inside.

Jumping to his feet, Matt kicked the door down and Hoyt went in first. They could hear the other two officers make entry through the back door at the same time. As they came into the living room, Sgt. Spencer came through the kitchen doorway, shaking his head indicating that no one was in that area. Spencer and his partner Fredrickson cleared the laundry room and small bathroom downstairs and Matt and Michael headed up the stairs. When they got to the top, there was a moan coming from the other end of the hall. Carefully, they went down the hallway, looking into each room that they passed as Spencer and Fredrickson followed them. At the end of the hall, they found Michael Coltrane lying on the bedroom floor, a quickly-expanding pool of blood coming from a wound in the right side of his chest. He was conscious and trying to get up off of the floor. As Hoyt worked his way around to the other side of the bed, Matt knelt down next to the man, reaching over into a laundry basket and grabbing a towel to hold pressure on the wound.

Michael holstered his weapon. "She's over here. Dead. Looks like she ate the barrel." He blew out a breath as he removed his cell phone and made the call for an ambulance, the CSI's, and the Coroner.

"Why?" Coltrane was crying. "Why did she do it? Alyssa loved her. How could she do it?"

"I don't know. Just try to calm down, we've got help on the way, okay?" Matt did his best to comfort the man and hold pressure on the wound until the EMT's came. As they loaded him into the ambulance, the two detectives turned back toward the house and began looking to see if they could find anything that related to the disappearances.

Michael started downstairs and Matt started upstairs in the bedroom alongside Cheryl Crawford who had been called out. "So this is related to the Alyssa Coltrane case? Good Lord." She went about documenting the scene, taking pictures and samples. Matt began by looking in the dresser drawers before moving on to the closet and coming up empty handed. He moved into the next bedroom that had been used as an office for Lizzie and Michael both. After looking through the drawers in the woman's desk and not finding anything related to the case, he sat down in the chair and opened up the laptop and began going through the files. Hoyt came upstairs and found him. "Any luck?"

Matt shook his head no. "Not a damn thing." He had just finished the last of the computer's files and closed it up. "Absolutely nothing." Standing up, he walked over to the closet and opened it. Inside were cardboard file boxes. He began pulling them out and Michael began going through them.

"Mostly papers from school. Nothing to do with the case." The cop gave a disgusted sigh.

Matt opened up one of the last boxes out of the closet that was labeled "1988". "Hey, take a look." Inside were a pair of child's jeans, two small dresses, and four pairs of girls shoes. "Souvenirs maybe?"

"That's how it looks. I'll go tell Cheryl. We won't know who they belong to until she runs DNA on them." The cop left the room. Matt looked at the underside of the label of the jeans. Written in black marker was the name Alyssa. The private eye turned and walked out of the room, down the stairs and went out to Michael's car, where the lieutenant found him leaning with his arms and head on the top of it. "You okay?" He put a hand on Matt's shoulder. The PI nodded but didn't say anything and didn't raise his head off of the roof. Michael stripped off his gloves, removed his tie and leaned against the back passenger door.

After a couple of minutes, Matt turned around and faced the house. "We may never know what happened to them, Michael." His voice was very subdued. "I know it was stupid, but I was hoping that we would find out that she was okay – that the other two from San Francisco were okay."

"No, it isn't stupid. I was hoping the same thing." Neither man spoke for a minute, then Hoyt turned and patted his friend on the shoulder. "Let's go back to the station. There's nothing else for us here."

As they headed toward the station, Matt sat thinking about everything that had happened. "How in the hell did she get past the background check?"

"I don't know. But we're damn sure going to find out."

Matt pulled out his cell phone and called CJ and told her what had happened. "Oh my God…" She was silent on the other end of the line. "Are you okay, hon?"

"Yeah."

She knew from the sound of his voice that he wasn't. "So what are you doing now?"

"We're going to try to find out how the hell she managed to get a job teaching." His voice was low and quiet.

"Okay, if you need me just call. I love you, Cowboy."

"Love you, Babe." Matt was quiet for a minute after he hung up. "Michael, we need to go to the Board of Education – not your office. I want some answers – now." His voice got even lower, making the lieutenant glad that he wasn't the one that his friend was upset with.

"Okay." He turned and headed back the way they had come to the Coltrane home.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

"Really Lieutenant and Mr. Houston was it? You can't just barge in here and …" The interim Supervisor came around his desk after Matt had stormed into his office.

"We want some answers and we want them right now." The private eye was furious. "I realize that you weren't in charge of this department twenty five years ago, Mr. Shofner. But Lizzie Coltrane managed to get past the background check – and I want to know how."

"Lizzie Coltrane?" Shofner started spluttering.

"We also want to know who called and tipped her off after we came and got her fingerprints earlier today. She tried to kill her husband and succeeded in killing herself."

"I don't understand – Mrs. Coltrane is well respected in the department and…"

"And she was involved in the kidnapping of at least four little girls – one of them is dead and we have no idea what happened to the other three. Now I think you and your department have some explaining to do." Hoyt reached up and took Matt by the arm. The angered PI had gotten right up in the face of Shofner and had him basically pinned against the desk.

"Easy Matt. We'll get our answers. Calm down." Hoyt pulled backwards on his friend's arm. "Mr. Shofner, if you could pull the records and let us look through them it might shed a little light on the subject."

"Sure – we can do that." He turned to his secretary. "Louisa, would you mind?"

As the secretary took off to retrieve the record, Matt had calmed down a little bit but was still pretty steamed. "Do you know who was in charge of doing the background checks back then?"

"No, I don't but I'm about to find out." Shofner went back behind his desk and picked up the phone.

Hoyt took the opportunity to talk to Matt. "You need to calm down, okay? This guy probably didn't even work here then; it's been quite a while back." He patted the PI on the back and watched as he took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me, but you might want to let him know."

"Yeah." When Shofner got off of the phone, Matt took another deep breath. "Mr. Shofner, I'm sorry I got so upset with you."

"I'm getting pretty upset myself. I want to know who called her and let her know what was going on…that put her husband as well as the officers in danger. Do you know who you spoke to when you came for the prints?"

Hoyt pulled out his notebook. "Marcy Overbridge."

Shofner picked up his phone once again and called the woman into his office just as the secretary got back with the complete file. "Would you all have a seat, please?" He motioned to a trio of chairs in front of his desk.

"Mr. Shofner, is there some problem? They had a warrant for the finger prints…" Overbridge looked nervous.

"Giving them the finger print record was fine – but calling Mrs. Coltrane to let her know wasn't fine."

"I…well, I used to live next door to her and…" Marcy swallowed hard. "She's a very sweet lady. I thought she should know."

"Ms. Overbridge, because you called her and tipped her off she shot and seriously wounded her husband and killed herself. And we're still left wondering about the other girls who disappeared. We're no closer to finding them because our one source of information is no longer alive." Hoyt spoke calmly enough but Matt could see the vein in his temple throbbing.

"I can't believe she would ever do …not Lizzie…" The woman burst into tears.

"Ms. Overbridge," Matt stood up and turned to face her. "When did you live next door to Lizzie?"

"We met in San Francisco. She moved in about a week after I did and we sort of struck a friendship up…you know," she sniffled and blew her nose into the tissue that Shofner had offered her. "We were both new and learning our way around so we ran errands together and got to be good friends."

"What did she do for a living there?" Hoyt picked up the questioning.

"She was a teacher's aide part time - said she loved working with children."

"Okay, we're going to need your help to try to find the two girls from San Francisco that were snatched." Michael pulled out his phone and called the Chief to let him know what they had stumbled across.

"What about her brother Gerry? Did he live with her there, too?" Houston was pacing around the office.

"Yes, he moved in just a few days after she did. But I don't think he was quite right. He never spoke much and usually looked – I don't know, like he couldn't put two and two together. He didn't hold a job."

The PI turned and looked at Shofner. "Did you find out who was responsible for the background checks in '88?"

Nodding, the supervisor looked grim. "His name was Arty Sheffield. And you won't be able to question him – he died about six years ago."

Matt sighed and looked at Michael as he got off of the phone. "Ms. Overbridge, we would like for you to come with us and help us get started…" He looked up as Matt jerked and pulled out his phone. "You okay?"

The PI nodded. "Mr. Dupree, this is Matt Houston. I need to know something: when was your storage building built?" Hoyt got a shocked look on his face. "It was, huh? Okay, we're probably going to be back out that way shortly – just stay out of it if you would. Thanks." He hung up. "The concrete foundation was poured about the time that Anna Suggs took off – twenty five years ago. Remember the crack in the floor?"

Hoyt pulled out his phone again and called for a patrol car to pick up Marcy Overbridge and take her to his office. "I'll catch back up with you as soon as possible." The two detectives headed out the door.

Pulling out his phone, Matt got into the passenger side of Hoyt's car and called Cheryl. When he got through to the CSI, he explained what he thought had happened and she agreed to meet them at the storage building.

They pulled up in front of the apartment building and were met by Mr. and Mrs. Dupree who walked around to the building with them. "Now what is it that makes you think she's in here?" Floyd lifted up his ball cap and scratched his head.

Matt slipped on his black gloves and squatted down inside the building. "This right here. Concrete does this when it settles. Now that can be from erosion due to water runoff, but there aren't any other signs of that here. Most likely it's because of an air pocket."

"You mean you think that little girl is buried under here?" Alice covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

"Yes ma'am, I do. The CSI's are going to bring out a piece of equipment called a ground penetrating radar. It kinda looks like a lawn mower the way it's set up. All they have to do is roll it over the area and it will show them what's there. That way we won't have to dig up your floor if there isn't anything." Matt stood up as he heard the truck pull in outside the shed. "There they are now." He and the others stepped outside so that Cheryl and Charlie could get the radar in the building and do what they needed.

After a few minutes to get the machine set up and running, Cheryl called out to the private investigator. "Houston, come take a look." She stepped aside so that Matt and Hoyt could see what was on the monitor. "I think we found her."

Matt looked at the image on the screen. There before his eyes was what appeared to be the skeleton of a child. His head dropped and he turned to walk out of the building as Mrs. Dupree burst into tears. Michael called for the Coroner as Cheryl and Charlie called someone to bring out a jackhammer to help them recover the small body.

Walking out to join his friend, Michael called the Chief's office once again to let him know what had happened. The shooting that morning had attracted the media's attention and the head of the police department was being assaulted with all kinds of questions which he didn't have the answers to. After hanging up, he stood next to his friend and looked over at him. The PI was looking up at the sky, and appeared to be near tears. Hoyt reached up and patted his shoulder. "As bad as it sucks to know that she's dead, it's still better than wondering about her."

Matt nodded, but still couldn't speak. After another minute or so he reached for his phone and called CJ, wandering over to a picnic table under a tree and sitting down on one of the benches. "Hey. We think we found her – under the concrete pad of the storage building."

On the other end of the line CJ felt tears sting her eyes as she looked down at her daughter who was loudly grunting her approval of the bottle that she was drinking. "Oh God…I know it was a long shot, but I sure hoped…" She stopped.

"Yeah, me too."

"I love you, Matt." She knew how upset Matt was. He had a soft spot when it came to kids and his own experiences as a young kidnapping victim made him even more sensitive.

"Love you. I'll call you later. 'Bye." He hung up and drew in a deep breath, slowly letting it out as Michael sat down next to him.

"Want me to take you back to the station?"

"No, I want to see this thing through – I feel like I owe her that much, ya know?" He got up and slowly went back to the building to help remove the body.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Tuesday morning at 9:00am found Matt piloting his jet out of LAX once again, this time heading up to San Francisco to work with members of the Homicide squad and members of their CSI division. Michael Hoyt was seated in the cockpit of the plane with the private investigator for the forty five minute flight.

Michael broke the silence. "You know, we could've flown up in the department's plane."

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't get a chance to play pilot, would you?" Houston looked over at him and grinned. "Because I know you want to. You've been watching every single move I make." He cracked up.

"Who wouldn't want to?" Hoyt grinned. "Was it that obvious?"

"Yup. Give us about five more minutes and I'll let you take it. I'd like to put a little distance between us and all these other yahoos out here."

"So how long have you been flying?"

"Since I was fifteen. Choppers since I was eighteen."

"When I was fifteen I was working on my learner's permit for my driver's license. Sheesh!"

"Don't feel bad. I had just gotten mine." Matt chuckled. True to his word a few minutes later he showed Michael what he needed to do and turned the controls over to him.

"Ohhhh boy." The cop's nervousness cracked Matt up even more.

"You're doing fine. We haven't gone down and there are no flames coming out of the engines so…uh oh."

"What?! What is it?!" Hoyt panicked.

"Nothing. Just testing you." Matt really did crack up then.

"You…Ooooh, I'm gonna get you…where are you going?" The panic started to come back into Michael's voice.

"Coffee. Want some?" The PI very nonchalantly made his way back through to the small galley on board.

"Sure. Put something stronger in there while you're at it – like maybe a sedative. I'm gonna need it."

Matt came back in a minute with two cups of coffee and sat back down in his seat. "You're doing fine. What are you so worried about, cop?"

"Oh, let's see: I'm not a licensed pilot, this thing is worth God-knows-how much money, not to mention I could get both of us killed."

"Alright look at it from my point. You're not a licensed pilot but you're a darn good driver – even if you are too cautious in my opinion. The plane is actually getting kinda old and I've been thinking about replacing it. And you haven't gotten us killed just yet. Not to mention I'm here to save the day." He cracked up again.

"Oh excuse me; I didn't realize this was Ego Airlines here." The cop cracked up again. "Here, take this thing back over. I need coffee."

"Hit that switch right there." Matt pointed out the one he was referring to.

Michael flipped it. "Okay, now what?"

"Turn loose of the yoke. That's the autopilot switch." Matt chuckled and then took a sip of his coffee. Both he and Michael had been trying to keep the mood light, but the reason that they were making the trip weighed heavily on both of them. Cheryl was at that very moment running DNA testing to see if the body that they had found the day before was in fact Alyssa Coltrane, and the ME was scheduled to start the autopsy that afternoon.

"So have you ever worked with anybody in San Francisco before?" Houston decided it wasn't doing much good to ignore the elephant in the room.

"About eight years ago. Luckily enough, he's the Homicide inspector that we'll be working with – or one of them anyway. And apparently our chief and their chief have known each other for a while, so maybe we won't have any problems. Just promise me you won't go doing anything crazy, okay?"

"Umm. I'm not making any promises." Matt looked at his watch: 9:25am. By now back at his office Catey would be wanting her mid-morning bottle and a change of diapers.

"You miss both of them already, don't you?" Hoyt had been quietly watching Matt's expression.

"Yep." There wasn't any point in trying to hide it. Matt loved having his ladies with him.

"I sure hope your hunch about where they might be pays off – as bad as I hate to think they might be dead." Michael looked outside the cockpit windows at the clouds.

"We really don't have a reason anymore to think they would be alive." Finally he had put into words what he had been thinking the whole time they had been working the case.

"You know, the parents of the girls in San Francisco are all dead. Can you imagine having to live the rest of your life not knowing?"

"No I can't – but I've got a feeling that when they died they found out what we're trying to." The PI looked over at his friend who silently nodded.

Just as they were about to land, Michael's phone rang. "Yeah Sanchez, what is it?" Matt saw his friend's shoulders droop. "Okay, thanks for letting me know…uh huh, we're about to land. Thanks." He hung up and sighed. "Michael Coltrane died about an hour ago."

"So the only one left to care is Margaret Carpenter – if she even gives a damn." The private eye shook his head.

"No, that's not true: you and I care, and CJ cares, and so does everybody else who is working on this case."

"True." Matt landed the jet and taxied to the hangar that he had been assigned. He went ahead and arranged for the refueling as Inspector Carney pulled up outside and walked over to Hoyt, shaking hands. When he was done, Matt walked up to join the two men.

"Matt Houston, this is Inspector Martin Carney, SFPD." Hoyt introduced the two men.

"Nice to meet you." Matt shook the man's hand.

Carney nodded. "Nice to meet you, just wish we weren't working on a case like this. It's depressing as hell."

"I heard that." Houston followed the two to Carney's car and slid into the back seat.

"We've got a team ready to start at the park." The inspector pulled out and began the almost fifteen mile drive to the Sunset District. As he and Hoyt talked shop, Matt pulled out his phone and called CJ to let her know they were there.

"Hi Cowboy, how's it going?" The lawyer-turned-private eye was going through some papers that Derwin Dunlap had sent to Matt regarding their business together.

"We landed a few minutes ago and are headed to the park. Just wanted to check in with you and make sure everything is okay on that end."

"It is."

"Michael Coltrane died about an hour ago, by the way."

"That's terrible." Both were silent for a minute. "You be careful up there, okay?"

"I will, Babe. Love you. 'Bye."

"Love you, too." CJ hung up and looked at the phone for a minute before going back to looking through the papers she was working on.

"Did she tell you to stay out of trouble?" Michael looked over the back of the seat at Matt.

"No, she told me to be careful. Guess that means I can steal a chopper if I want to." He grinned at the cop, referring to his theft of a DEA chopper the year before.

"I don't think that's what she wants." Hoyt saw the look on Carney's face and cracked up. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"I thought you hated private investigators? That was half of what came out of your mouth the last time we worked together." Carney cut his eyes over at Michael.

"Yeah, well this one's a little different. He's not TOO bad."

A short time later they pulled up to Pine Lake Park in the southern part of the Sunset District. Matt pulled out the maps that he had printed out showing locations that Marcy Overbridge thought Lizzie Coltrane, aka Anna Suggs, might have buried the bodies. The two had spent quite a bit of time hiking in the park when they both lived about a block from it.

The search team had gathered around a picnic shelter and consisted of CSI techs, Police Academy cadets, police officers, and sheriff's deputies. After thanking everyone for being there, Carney turned to Hoyt to give instructions. He tagged Matt. "Go ahead."

Matt exchanged places with Carney and as he held up a map in his hand, he explained why they thought the bodies might be in that area, but emphasized the point that it was just a theory since the only person who really knew for sure was now dead. He explained that he wanted them to conduct a grid search and exactly how he wanted it done before stepping down. Carney took back over and began assigning teams to the area. Matt and Michael joined up with Carney and a sheriff's deputy, Angela Garcia, to work one of the grids.

After three hours and four false possible findings, a call came over the radio. The team two grids away had found two possible gravesites and the CSI's were moving into the woods with the ground penetrating radar to check it out. Matt and his team had just finished searching their grid when another call came over the radio: they were found. As they made their way through the woods toward the site, everyone was quiet. When they arrived three cadets were uncovering what was left of the bodies. The two small skeletons looked pitiful, lying in the dirt with a few bits of material that hadn't rotted away clinging to the bones. The PI looked at Michael and shook his head. "At least we know now." The cop patted his friend on the back as they turned and started out of the woods.

At 7:30 that night, Matt and Michael took off for LA and a few minutes later the private investigator's cell phone rang. He switched on the autopilot as he answered. "Hi, pard. What's up?"

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for helping the team out. Is your phone on speaker?" Brian Landers grinned at the other members of the team.

"No, but it can be." He hit the button. "Okay." A loud cheer came over the phone and caused Michael to jump in his seat.

"What the hell?" The cop looked at Matt.

"The guys just wanted to thank you, Houston. There's no way we could have done it without your help. And they also wanted to let you know that the season is going to be dedicated to you." There was another loud cheer from the boys.

"Well y'all are more than welcome. I'm glad I could do something to help you. Now what about your promise to me, Brian?"

"I'm going to – I already talked to Coach about it."

"Alright. Well, I hope to be able to catch a few of your games – so don't let me down, ya hear?"

There was a collective whoop from the other end. "Okay, you got it, Houston. Thanks!" Brian hung up and was gone, leaving a confused Hoyt to look questioningly at his friend.

Matt explained the situation and Michael nodded. "There are a lot of kids facing those problems now. The bad economy is hurting a lot of families out there. Ya did good, pal."

"Brian's got a good arm, Michael. I think he could really go places if he works hard at it."

"I'd say he's got a good coach and friend who will help him all he can." Hoyt leaned back in the seat and yawned. "Wake me up when we get there."

"Sure thing, Gramps." Matt ducked as the cop swatted at him.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Wednesday morning at 8:00am Matt stepped off of the elevator at his office to find Michael Hoyt sitting on one of the bar stools waiting for him. "Didja miss me or something?"

"No, not particularly. You're welcome by the way – I made the coffee." Hoyt toasted his friend with a mug of the brew.

"You looking for a job as my coffee maker?" Matt poured a cup and the pair drifted out onto the patio and sat down, Matt with his boots propped on the wall.

"Nope. Just thought I would fill you in on what I learned last night after we got back." Michael took another sip. "You know you were trying to figure out how Anna Suggs got through the background check?"

"Uh huh." The PI looked at his friend.

"Apparently she had broken into the Board of Education offices and doctored the paperwork. After we put her prints in the system they came back to a report from 1988 – when the office had been broken into. She went through and damaged quite a bit of equipment and furnishings in there – tried to make it look like a bunch of kids had broken in or something. She even went so far as to spray paint graffiti on the walls."

"Wow." Matt took a long swig of the coffee.

"But apparently, she was a very good teacher. She taught second grade the whole time she worked for the city – at two different schools. There were absolutely no complaints about her from anyone – kids, parents, other teachers – nobody whatsoever."

"So you have to wonder – what was it that set her off?" Matt was still puzzled by the whole thing. "You know it isn't very common for a woman to be a serial killer. There are some, but most of them are men."

"Yep." Michael drank more coffee.

"So did you bring the other cold case files with you?" Matt cut his eyes over at his friend.

"Yep." The lieutenant pulled them out from under the back of his suit jacket. "I wasn't sure if you would want to help with them anymore."

"You said it the other day – I'm a glutton for punishment. Hand 'em here."


End file.
